1. The Field of the Invention
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,866,297 and 3,909,935 disclose and claim methods and apparatus for connecting wires to the wire receiving portions of terminals in each of two electrical connectors. The connectors are placed in side by side relationship with their wire receiving portions in alignment and the wires are located in side by side relationship and in alignment with the connectors so that the wires can be inserted into the connectors in a single inserting step by a suitable insertion apparatus. The wires are cut between the two connectors and short segments of scrap wire are produced and discarded.
The above identified U.S. patents specifically disclose the insertion of wires into two identical connectors which can be mated with each other after the insertion operations have been carried out. However, as explained in the specifications of these prior patents, the principles of the inventions can be used with other types of connectors.
The methods and apparatus of U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,866,297 and 3,909,935 offer several advantages which are capable of facilitating the manufacturing of harness assemblies by automated methods. However, the insertion tooling disclosed in these patents requires a substantial number of manual operations which limit the speed with which the operations can be carried out. The present invention is directed to improved methods and apparatus in accordance with the general principles of the above identified patents which improved methods reduce the number of manual operations required and therefore permit more rapid production of harness assemblies.
The above identified patents show the connection of wires to connectors having only a single row of terminals therein and it would further be desirable to employ the teachings of these patents in connecting wires to connectors having two rows of terminals therein. The present invention is further directed to the achievement of methods and apparatus for connecting wires to two row connectors.
In accordance with the principles of the present invention, the wires are drawn from substantially endless sources of wires such as barrels or spools and are located in two spaced apart planes with the wires in each plane spaced from each other by distances which are the same as the distances between adjacent terminals in the connectors. First and second connectors are then located in side by side relationship between the two planes of wires with the wires in each plane in alignment with the terminals in the connectors. Thereafter, the wires in both planes are moved laterally of their axes and into the wire receiving portions of the terminals in both connectors. The short segments of wire which extend between the two connectors are cut and discarded as scrap. The second connector, which is relatively remote from the sources of wire, is then removed and the first connector, which is proximate to the sources of wire, is then advanced or fed through the insertion zone and away from the wire sources so that the wire is withdrawn from the wire sources. After the first connector has been fed the desired distance, two additional connectors are then located in the insertion zone and in alignment with the wires as explained above. The entire process is then repeated so that a single finished harness sub-assembly is produced during an operating cycle.
Harness sub-assemblies as described above can be produced with a wide variety of apparatus having varying degrees of automaticity in their operation, such as the operations of feeding of the connectors to the insertion zone, feeding of the wired connectors from the insertion zone, and insertion of the wires into the conductor receiving portions of the terminals in the connectors. In accordance with the principles of the present invention, connector feeding or loading means are provided for locating unwired connectors in the insertion zone between the wires in the spaced apart planes. A semi-automatic connector feeding means is also employed to feed wired connectors through the insertion zone when the wires are drawn from the barrels or reels. The individual wires are inserted into the wire receiving portions of the terminals and the wires are cut by means of suitable wire insertion tooling and severing blades mounted on a press.